Rebecca, 12 years old, learns that her Uncle Wallace, a cattle baron from Texas, is coming to visit. Rebecca doesn’t like her uncle and her only hope is that he will bring her a birthstone ring like the one he bought for her cousin the year before. After dinner, Uncle Wallace gives Rebecca her gift: a blue dress once owned by his wife Vera who has remained in Texas. When Rebecca’s mother asks her to try on the dress, Rebecca, bitterly disappointed, runs to her room in tears.